The 183 events hosted by the Bilbao Exhibition Centre in 2009 (including trade fairs, conventions staged by BEC Convenciones and events at the Bizkaia Arena) generated an economic impact in terms of GDP of €69,566,704. This helped maintain 1592 jobs and generated revenue for the Treasury Department to the tune of €10.3 million.

The incorporation of a new event in the calendar of trade fairs – the European Future Energy Forum – , the maintenance of the main parameters in events for the general public and a record number of 1,227,887 visitors to the events held were the most positive landmarks of a year in which the global economic crisis hit the worldwide exhibition market particularly hard.

A comparative analysis of the economic impact in 2009 with the figure for 2007 (the last comparable year because of the staging of Ferroforma) shows a drop of 22%. This is directly linked to the postponement until 2011 of the Industry Summit and to a fall in the number of visitors and, especially, exhibitors at the biggest fair of the year, Ferroforma-Bricoforma, which was hit by the crisis affecting industry and construction. Both events were conditioned significantly by the unfavourable economic circumstances affecting business in general.

Finally, on the positive side, cumulative economic impact should also be taken into account: in the six years since the BEC opened its total impact has reached €477,390,267, equivalent to 91% of the investment cost of the centre.

In 2009 the Bilbao Exhibition Centre hosted 21 trade fairs, with a total of 2252 exhibitors, 137 events at the BEC Convenciones convention centre and 25 entertainment events at the Bizkaia Arena.

In spite of the difficulties, 2009 was a significant year for the Bilbao Exhibition Centre, as it saw some of the centre's most strategic recent international projects take shape.

Thus, March saw the first Ferroforma fair held under a partnership framework with Practical World in Cologne. This agreement between two leading hardware and DIY fairs is designed to allow both to maximise their international profiles.

The first European Future Energy Forum closed in June, and was a great success: it met its objective of bringing together the principal International leaders in the development of renewable energy sources. The forum will be returning to Bilbao every two years. It is organised by the BEC itself and Turret Middle East, and is the European version of the World Future Energy Summit held in Abu Dhabi, with which the Bilbao Exhibition Centre also co-operates.

2009 also saw the Bilbao Exhibition Centre stage its first Expobodas and Tendencias Creativas fairs as organiser, and its second Foccus and Algusto gastronomic fairs. The usual calendar of events was also maintained, with Sinaval-Eurofishing, Expovacaciones-Expoconsumo, Creamoda, Bisutería, Nagusi, Desembalaje, Fosminer, Exponatur and the PIN children’s Christmas funfair.

In regard to other lines of business, 2009 will be remembered for its links with other brands and names such as the European Autumn Gas Conference, the Banesto, Repsol, Caja Laboral, Vodafone, EVE, Intergune, and Euskal Encounter conventions and several exminations for pubilc employment offers by Osakidetza and the Provincial Council of Bizkaia, among others. A major increase in activity at the Bizkaia Arena saw the venue stage concerts by major artists such as Leonard Cohen, Fito & Fitipaldis, Rammstein, Jonas Brothers, the final of the Bertsolari tournament (a Basque form of improvised topical songs) and sports events such as the European Super-cross Championship and the home games of the Bizkaia Bilbao Basket basketball team, among many others.

At the end of the year, the Bilbao Exhibition Centre signed an agreement with Ecoembes to work on the sustainable management of resources at the centre. This entails improving the selective waste collection system for light packaging and paper/cardboard. The BEC is the first centre of its kind in Spain to establish an agreement of this type.

In the field of new technologies, the BEC began to offer new applications in its online catalogue and improvements in access to the venue for a visitors.

In recent years, the Bilbao Exhibition Centre has entered into several agreements with other trade fair centres and organisers of prestigious international exhibitions and conferences. This new line of work is enabling the centre to broaden the scope of its actions and consolidate its position as a candidate to host a number of highly interesting events for the BEC itself and for local businesses and institutions.

The establishing of partnerships to access new areas, learn about new ways of working, obtain know-how and strengthen contacts in certain sectors (energy, foodstuffs, chemicals, the environment, etc) has involved high-profile partners as reflected in such names as Chemspec Europe, a fair in which the BEC works with Quartz Business Media, the World Future Energy Summit by Reed Exhibitions and IPA Middle East, SIAL Middle East, Middle East Waste Summit and the European Future Energy Summit by Turret Middle East.

In 2010 the Bilbao Exhibition Centre will face new challenges, and month by month new events will be incorporated into the schedule to join the many fairs for the trade and for the general public already staged at local and international levels. They include the BIEMH Spanish Machine-Tool Biennial. The commercial team are working hard to offer companies key support in June for their development, and an effective tool for enhancing their international impact. Also scheduled is the second European Future Energy Forum, jointly organised by Turret Middle East and the BEC, which this year will take place in London.

The Provincial Council of Bizkaia also plans to organise a major craft fair at the BEC this year to help support the sector. Design work for this event is now ongoing.

The Bizkaia Arena has a calendar that includes such outstanding events as the basketball Kings Cup and concerts by El Barrio, David Bisbal, Joaquín Sabina and Alejandro Sanz. For its part, BEC Convenciones has confirmed that it will be staging the International Marine Energy Congress, organised by EVE and Tecnalia with the co-operation of the Bilbao Exhibition Centre, among other activities.

Communication Department, January 2010